Column from July 22, 2010

Patience is the key to growing peppers

I’ve talked to several people in the last few weeks who say their pepper plants aren’t growing very well.

We’re having the same problem with ours. In fact, the peppers are almost as big as the plants. They look kind of silly – those itty bitty plants with those huge peppers on them. (Check out the picture above of one of our pepper plants.)

I worry the plants are going to snap off if the peppers get any bigger.

With everyone having the same gardening issue, I decided to do a little research to see what’s going on.

Apparently, pepper plants are usually slow growing. They like a consistent hot temperature to really gain any size.

Well, we are still having some cool nights and that will stunt their growth. Eventually, they should get used to it and harden off. At that point, they should take off.

Some recommend growing peppers in containers so you can move them around to warmer locations in your yard. You could even put them inside the garage at night to keep them from getting chilled.

That seems like quite a bit of work and it’s not unusual for us to have cool nights even in the hottest part of summer. In that case, those plants might never adjust to our temperatures.

So, it then becomes a matter of preference and many of the gardening sites say peppers aren’t worth the work because they are so abundant and inexpensive to buy in the grocery store.

But I prefer the taste of garden fresh, no matter what vegetable it is.

When the peppers themselves get big enough, I will use some for cooking and others will go into the freezer for winter use. I will slice some and dice others, lay them out on baking sheets and put them in the freezer.

Once frozen, I’ll put them in freezer bags and pull out handfuls as I need them. They don’t need to be thawed; just throw them into whatever you’re cooking for added flavor and color.

We do have some dishes, though, that do call for fresh, such as stuffed peppers. That’s one of my favorites.

Eric really enjoys pepper steak and often orders it in restaurants when we dine out. It’s easy to make at home, too, and this is a great recipe for you to try.

Pepper steak

1 pound beef steak, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup beef broth

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1 stalk celery, sliced thin

1 green bell pepper, sliced thin

1 red bell pepper, sliced thin

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin

1 can chopped tomatoes, drained, or 2 medium tomatoes, blanched, peeled and cut into wedges

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in skillet on medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, stirring until onion is tender, about four or five minutes. Remove with slotted spoon.

Add remaining oil and sauté the beef until browned. Remove with slotted spoon.

Add broth, soy sauce, sugar and ground pepper to skillet, stir well. Return beef, onion and garlic to skillet and simmer 30 minutes.

Add celery, bell peppers and tomatoes. Cover and cook until celery and peppers are crisp-tender, about 30 minutes.

Dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Stir into the skillet, stirring constantly, until thickened, about two minutes.